kerb

• curb (US and Canada)
• kirb (obsolete)

From curb (“raised border or frame”) [from mid-17th c.]. Doublet of curve.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɝb/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɜːb/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)b
• Homophones: curb, kirb

kerb (plural kerbs)

1. (British, Australia, New Zealand) The raised edge between the pavement and the roadway, typically made of concrete though originally consisting of a line of kerbstones.
2. A stone ring built to enclose and sometimes revet the cairn or barrow built over a chamber tomb.
3. Alternative form of curb (“raised margin along the edge of a well, etc.”)

kerb (third-person singular simple present kerbs, present participle kerbing, simple past and past participle kerbed)

1. (British, transitive) To damage vehicle wheels or tyres by running into or over a pavement kerb.
2. To take a dog to the kerb for the purpose of evacuating.
   • 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 35:

     I was fidgeting a bit, because three dogs were sniffing at my ankles in an interested fashion. They were going out to be kerbed[.]

• Berk, berk, brek

• IPA^(key): /kɛɾb/

kerb f

1. hatred